A day of cooking...

I have had many food thoughts over the last few days.... but haven't had time to share them.....

And today has been my day of cooking and reflecting, so here are my thoughts....

I was once again cooking a thai curry... and as i was cutting up the pieces of lemon grass, roasting the coriander and cumin... it made me think, there are so many flavors, and so many methods of preparing all the different parts, how much like a person they are. All those ingredients come together to make one fabulous dish.... and a person is made up of so many characteristics, and each part is shaped by experiences harsh and gentle, to make up one fabulous person.

And yet, burning the cumin rather than roasting it, or a little bit more salt, not as much water; a tiny little change can completely the taste of dish. and sometimes, one pack of salt is saltier than another! so no two dishes can ever taste exactly the same. And just like that, a single experience in a person's life can completely change some aspect of them, one decision can change the track of a person's life. How very fascinating.

Later, I was talking to a friend of mine. Of course, over skype as I am so very far away... Anyway, she was telling me how she had an absolutely ridiculous work week, and found it so impossible to cook herself a decent meal. And the lack of a meal just compounded with her stress. And when one feels unable to feed oneself, everything else falls apart. And thus the cliche, or old wise words, "you are what you eat." What happened to the world over the last few decades that we forgot that, and started to feed ourselves chemicals instead of real food w/ real nutrients... and why did/do we call it food? If food is our primary physical life block, isn't that what we should prioritise?

This week has been a relatively interesting week. Had a few meetings w/ potential work opportunities. Which can be both exciting and intimidating, since i haven't worked in a formal space in years!!! But the teams I spoke to seem innovative, interesting, so it could actually turn out to be fun (hopefully). But this meant that I ate out lots... and some lovely meals were had!

a lovely lentil/chickpea bunless "burger" w/ yoghurt/cucumber raita, eggplant mash, haloumi and a wonderful green sauce and micro greens. Then the necessary yumyum chinese takeout, and i even got a pre-marinated steak at the butchers, which made for a meal faster than take away (side of spinach and saute mushrooms).

So, with the possibilty of formal work in the future (meaning days not at home lounging), and a week of not really cooking much, I took a long lazy day to just cook and cook today.

My favorite thing (at the request of my husband) was Kash-style Indian curry. And I am very very proud of my innovations. I usually put a bit of yoghurt in it when marinating the chicken...but since there was none to be had today, I put in a bit of cheese! It was a lovely duetto dolce con figs and walnuts... so i took out the figs and walnuts, in it went... melted right into the sauce, and just gave it the right balance!

A happy day of balance in food, and therefore, in life!

Comfort Food

I came across this article from the NY times, the other day. I love the way she relates foods to emotions, even hope.

And I can't be so exact to think of a specific moment that a food reminds me of, but there are definitely foods that can make you feel comforted... especially being so very far away from the comfort of home.

As much as I love, appreciate and know the importance of food from scratch w/ good, fresh raw ingredients.... I have to admit, this is one of my favorite comfort foods:

Yup, that's right! Instant noodles full of crap. This particular one is one of my absolute favorite brands, but there is also a black and red ramen one that I love. And here are my reasons:

- so much flavor!

- works for my carb cravings

- warm and cozy

- INstant (minimal work)

Actually, come to think of it, it is my emotional-comfort food. So when I feel a bit down and out, this makes me feel better... and makes me feel like:

a) i'm still capable of feeding myself (no matter how down i get)

b) full belly usually leads to happiness... in my case

c) i still feel flavor

d) things are going to get better (because it did last time i ate it!)

And my getting better (from a flu usually) food is stir-fried crunchy broccoli. Love the crunch and the freshness of the green, green broccoli.

Hmmm...... perhaps, I'm a bit strange. I wonder what one's comfort food says about the personality!

The reason for ...

I feel the great need to explain my self, my idea, my blog.

When I think of my life, so much of it revolves around food: happy times eating an ice cream cone in the sun at a park, sad times eating a tub of ice cream on the couch watching teary movie, celebratory times eating double scoop swiss chocolate ice cream w/ luscious strawberries... you get the idea.

Much of one's life is reflected in food.

Last year, I moved halfway across the world, to a continent completely foreign and friendless, for love. During my initial time here, I found it hard to share/convey what I was experiencing, seeing, missing. I probably needed some time to digest everything myself.

Half a year later, we took a long X-mas holiday (postponed honeymoon). Being sick for a large part of the trip, I rediscovered my intense love, perhaps insatiable yearning, for yumyum food and all flavours/textures strange and "exotic". I'd like to think it reflects my joie de vivre...

So now, when I'm finally ready to share and express... I want to share my life through food!!!

Thai Weekend

At the end of last year, a trip to Thailand, a wonderfully wacky Thai cooking class, and the insatiable desire for all things sweet, sour, spicy inspired my cooking adventure! (and thus, the start of this blog)

And so, with the beginning of the newyear, I decided to put my new interest to action! It started w/ a weekend dinner with some friends of some first-run, first time, popular Thai dishes.

First, we started w/ some yum yum salads and tom yum soup:

(appearing from the left: som ta - papaya salad, tom yum goong soup, green mango salad)

The next course consisted of the usual: rice, the so-famous green curry chicken:

However, the piece de resistance was by my hubby: (medium beef steak marinated and drizzled over w/ penang curry)

We only got a picture of it while it was marinading, unfortunately... But when it was sliced and being eaten, it was really a thing of beauty! The meat was so tender, it only needed a regular table knife to cut through!

We also got some action with the lovely morning glory (this is my favorite dish, but the actual morning glory - water spinach - is hard to come by)

By the end of it, we were much too tired to cook up a dessert, but luckily a friend brought some lovely personalised cookies.

Overall, it was a really lovely, very successful evening. We even ended up playing hours of games afterwards!!!!

I must admit, when I first thought of this blog, it was to be more of relating my view of the world, how I see life to the foods and flavors I experience... but posting all these pictures have taken such a wonderfully long time, I'm absolutely exhausted.

I will say though.... in our cooking class, the Chef told us that there was one simple, basic foundation to Thai cooking. That is, every dish must be comprised of three tastes, the three S's: Sweet, Salty and Sour.

And in the same way, for a fulfilling life, you need a little bit of all those.... and perhaps some Spice for a little kick.

The Quick Meal

A lot of times, we just need a quick start to get the ball rolling. Such is my post, and my meal for the day: fava beans with cherry tomatoes, zaatar, red onions, cilantro and of course, a chilli! (life just has to have spice!)

So my feel for the day, as Nike best put it: Just do it!